Engineering Process

 

 Comparison of the Scientific Method and the Engineering Design Process

 

 

3 Stages Of Experimental Design

 

Scientific Method

Engineering Process

1.     Pre-experimental stage- scientific method steps 1, 2 & 3 2.     Experimental Stage- scientific method step 4 & 5 a.     Gather materials b.     Know how to use the equipment c.     Procedures written to be conducted over and over again by anybody d.     Perform experiment once e.     Observe & record data in your notebook f.      Identify a single test variable & control other variables (if you did not already) g.     Make any adjustments to your procedures and hypothesis h.     Test experiment 10 times i.      Observe & record data in your notebook j.      Use mathematics for formulas, mean, median and mode 3.     Post- experimental Stage- scientific method steps 6 & 7

1.     Pre-engineering Stage- steps 1, 2 & 3 2.     Engineering stage- 4, 5, & 6 a.     Gather materials b.     Know how to use the equipment c.     Designs, drawings (prepare premliminary designs) and procedures to be conducted over & over again by anybody to build your prototype d.     Build and test your prototype e.     Observe & record data in your notebook f.      Identify what needs to be adjusted g.     Make adjustments to your procedures and redesign the prototype as necessary h.     Test the prototype again i.      Observe & record data in your notebook j.      Use mathematics for formulas, mean, median and mode 3.     Post-Engineering Stage- steps 6 & 7 a.     Analyze your results b.     Draw conclusions c.     Presents results

 

Overview of the Engineering Process

One important concept comes up again and again in the engineering process; it's called iteration. Iteration is a procedure in which you repeat a sequence of steps, each time coming closer to your goal. While it would be nice to do everything once and have a perfect design, there are actually some pretty good reasons why iteration is the norm. We will be iterating our description of the engineering process (see, we can't even describe the process without iterating), and by the end of this document you should have a good understanding of why iteration is a normal and in fact desirable part of engineering design!

Let's look at the engineering process in more detail:

1.Define a Need: What do users of your product need? Is it a new version of an existing product that has more speed, lighter weight, or lower cost? Or, is it a product with an entirely new combination of features never before seen, like the first light bulb invented by Edison in the 1800's.

2.Do Background Research: Investigate what others have already learned about your idea. Gather information that will help you design your invention. Don't reinvent the wheel.

3.Establish Design Criteria: Design criteria are requirements you specify for your design that will be used to make decisions about how to build the resulting product. For example, you might set out to design a baseball bat that has design criteria calling for the same strength and size as an aluminum bat, but half the weight. These criteria would rule out making the bat from balsa wood (not strong enough) or steel (too heavy). They would lead you to look at materials like carbon fiber composites (very cool stuff, but expensive).

4.Prepare Preliminary Designs: Good engineers look at a variety of different possible designs before moving forward. It's much faster and cheaper to look at alternatives on paper before actually building something. At the same time, a good set of plans will uncover problems that are expensive and time consuming to fix once you're actually building something. Each preliminary design is likely to have some good points and some bad. As you continue to generate new designs you incorporate more and more of your best ideas. You guessed it -- you iterate your designs!

5.Build and Test a Prototype: A prototype is the first full-scale and functional model of your invention. You build it from what you think is the preliminary design that best meets your design criteria. Sometimes it is impossible to meet all your design criteria and you need to choose a compromise.

6.Redesign & Retest as Necessary: Almost every prototype has unanticipated flaws, things you overlooked or design features that did not work the way you intended. Engineers redesign their products to "get the bugs out," and retest them until everything is as it should be. This process of redesign and retest is another example of iteration.

7.Present Results: In a science fair you present your results as with any other science fair project, by showing your work on a display board and by demonstrating your invention if possible. Of course, engineers working in industry present their results by putting the product into manufacturing so that others can buy it.

8.Steps 3-6 are the iterate portion of the project

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_engineering.shtml

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Research Plan & Bibliography

If you follow the engineering process your bibliography will be the same as for other projects, but you need to ask additional questions in your background research plan. In addition to understanding the science of how your invention will work, you also need to:

1.Define your target user or customer. Everything man designs are ultimately for the use of another human. (Think about it, even products designed for animals or plants are first purchased by another human being!) Your choice of target user will sometimes have a big impact on your design criteria. For example, let's think about our baseball bat example. Imagine you want to design a bat with the same strength and size as an aluminum bat, but half the weight. If your target user is a child, then cost would also be very important. If your target is a professional baseball player, cost might be less important, but league rules about what materials can be used for bats would be very important. You might specify your target user in any number of ways. Here are some examples:
    - Age (old, young, infant)
    - Gender (in America you wouldn't sell many dresses made for boys!)
    - Occupation
    - Hobby interests
    - Amateur or professional
    - Disabled or not disabled
    - First time user or experienced user

2.Research what already exists to fill the need you defined, or needs that are very similar. No one wants to go to all the trouble of designing something they think is new, only to find that several people have already done it. Jeeez, would that be depressing? So, you want to investigate what's already out there, only then can you be sure that you're making something that better fills a need. And, keep in mind that what is "better" depends on your criteria. You might want to build something that's been around for hundreds of years, but do it with recycled materials from around the house. The device might be old, but the construction materials new (or used!).

 

3.Do researches that will help you establish your design criteria. Defining your target user and researching other products set the stage for your next step -- researching possible design criteria.

1.Questions to answer in the Research Report is below:

After you clarify the definition of your target user, you'll want to ask questions like this:

·  What does my target user [a child, an elderly person, whomever your target user is] need in a _________?

·  How much would my target user be willing to pay for a _________?

Then, ask questions to help you understand products or programs that fill similar needs to the need you identified:

·  What products or programs fill a similar need? [Duh, that question is pretty obvious.]

·  What are the strengths of products or programs that fill a similar need?

·  What are the weaknesses of products or programs that fill a similar need?

·  Why did the engineers that built products or programs that fill a similar need design them the way they did?

·  How can I measure my design's improvement over existing designs?

(sciencebuddies.com)

(sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_engineering.shtml)

 

Keys to A Successful Project

 

1.     Select a topic

2.     Research and take organized notes

3.     Write everything in your organized notebook

4.     Write your purpose and need

5.     Write your research report

6.     Establish your criteria

7.     Plan, organize, design & test your prototype

8.     Write the scientific paper

9.     Create the exhibit

10.  Oral presentation

11.  Save everything you type on the computer and make a back-up copy on a jump drive, CD-rom or disk

 

 

 

 

 

Guidelines for the Engineering Project

 

A. Notebook (Composition)

            1. This is a notebook that contains the original records of the work you have done             on your project. A well-organized, complete notebook is crucial to a successful         project. It will be turned in to the teacher when the project is due.

            2. Label you cover with your name, homeroom number and school

            3. Write the page numbers in your hardbound composition notebook in top right              hand corner

            4. Design a table of contents, have sections for the following:

a.     Daily notes and reflections

b.     Background research

c.     Information contacts and supply sources

d.     Purpose, define a need, design criteria

e.     Preliminary designs / drawings

f.      Materials & tools

g.     Safety Procedures

h.     Qualitative & Quanitiative Observations

i.      Procedures to build prototype

j.      Observations of tested prototype (Data collection)

k.     Redesign prototype & observations

l.      Analyze Results (pictures, graphs)

m.   Discussion

n.     Conclusion

o.     New questions

            5. Record the progress of your project

            6. Each time you work on your project, write it in to the notebook and date it,       make sure you write it in the correct section

            7. Always include changes made to the procedures of the protptype

            8. Include all observations made during the experiment

 

  

B. Research Report Plan

1.     Complete the worksheet & have answers in your notebook

2.     Have a short history of similar inventions or experiments

3.     Ask mentors, parents or teachers about “What science concepts should I study better to better understand my science fair project?”, and “What areas of science does my project cover?”, and ask more questions…

4.     You should know if there are any scientific theorie, laws, or formulas that relate to your topic

5.     Identify the keywords in the needs statement (question) for your project.

6.     Generate questions to help you understand the science needed for your design.

7.     Identify your need.

8.     Define your target user or customer.

9.     Ask questions to help you understand products or programs that fill similar needs to the need you are trying to fill.

10.  Use your needs statement to identify some likely design criteria to research, and review the above list of design criteria to see if some apply to your project.

11.  Iterate!

12.  Use MLA format, check the chart

13.  Make sure you answered the who, what, where, when why & how about your topic

14.  Answer the following questions;

15.  Correct grammar, spelling, punctuation & capitalization included

16.  This section should answer: how to design and understand the scientific concepts and engineering process of your experiment, what is the best techniques for investigating the topic and how they are preformed, have others investigated this topic and what did they find, and why is the answer to your question important?

17.  500-700 words

Bibliography Examples 

          

Bibliography Examples

            1. Book or magazine

                        Baker, John S., “Science is Great”, New York: Holt Publishing Co.,  May 1990, p. 1-10.

            2. Web site

                        Bailey, Regina, About.com,  Biology Site, March 9, 2000

            3. Conversation

                        Thomas, Liz, In person conversation, November 10, 2003

13.  Appendix

            a.  Rough draft

 

14. Research Plan (necessary for NEOSEF)

            a. topic question

            b. need, target, & criteria

            c. description of procedures

            d.  procedures

e. data analysis- describe the procedures you will use to analyze the data that answers research questions

            f. bibliography

  

Tri- fold Display Board

1.  
   1. You need to use a tri-fold display board, 76cm deep (30 in.) by 122 cm wide (48 in.) by 274 cm high or it can be larger, (NOT SMALLER)
   2. Information to be mounted will included:

a.     Left panel

·      Purpose / Need

·      Criteria

·      Materials & Procedures

 

b.     Center Panel

·      Title & Your name

·      Illustrations & pictures with labels

·      Graphs & Charts (Quantitative Obs.)

c.     Right Panel

·      Qualitative Observations

·      Discussion

·      Conclusion & Next Time & New Questions (found in your conclusion of your science paper)

3.     Check your display for correct spelling and grammar

4.     Don’t write directly on the board or on paper

5.     Use colored border behind your information

6.     Glue straight on the board

7.     Don’t show any tape

8.     Type everything you want written on the board, use a font size of at least 16 for the text. Larger for titles and labels

9.     use Arial or Times Roman font style

10.  Use white or pastel paper for the text to be printed on

11.  font sizes

1.     Title 150+      

2.     Headings 32+

3.     Subheadings 20+

4.     Main text 16

5.     Captions for graphs, pictures, diagrams 12

a.     Correct size board

 

Exhibit

1.     Tri-fold display board size is listed above and it’s organized, typed, and           neat

2.     Abstract

3.     Science Paper

4.     Notebook

5.     Photo album (not necessary, but it is very nice to have…)

 

Model

 (Do not bring one, use pictures and diagrams instead.  I need you to keep the model for later, I may ask for it)

 

Oral Presentation

1.     Introduction

a.     Name and title of the project

b.     Purpose, Need, & Criteria

2.     Procedure summary and engineering process

3.     Observations and results summary / highlights

a.     Explain the charts and pictures

4.     Summarize your results

5.     Point to the information on your display board

6.     Conclusion

a.     Tell us if you reach your goal / criteria

b.     What would you do differently next time?

c.     What did you learn?

d.     New questions

7.     Be prepared to answer questions about your presentation

8.     3-5 minutes long

9.     Don’t fidget or do things that are distracting like chewing gum

10.  Be positive, enthusiastic, and confident

  

Presenting at Archbishop Lyke School Science Fair

1.     Your oral presentation is the same except

2.     Dress

                                              a.     During the evening part of the science fair, you must be there looking your best.

                                             b.     Dress as if you where going to a professional interview; no jeans, jean skirts, jogging pants, sweats or pajamas.

                                              c.     The way you are dressed during the science fair will count   towards your grade. 

3.     People will be there looking at your science fair project.  Your project represents you, so make sure you put forth the time and effort your project. 

4.     If you are not present during judging process you will not be eligible for a grade for presenting or an award at the fair. Then you will not have an opportunity to advance to the NEOSEF held at Cleveland State University

 

 

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